


On This Winter's Night

by LeChatRouge673



Series: Cat's Song [11]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-01
Updated: 2017-09-01
Packaged: 2018-12-22 08:30:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11963607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeChatRouge673/pseuds/LeChatRouge673





	On This Winter's Night

_The lamp is burning low upon my tabletop_

_My glass is almost empty_

_I read again between the lines upon each page_

_The words of love you sent me._

 

-“Song for a Winter’s Night” by Gordon Lightfoot

 

* * *

 

_25 Firstfall, 9:36 Dragon_

 

Thea delicately brushed the snow out of her hair with gloved hands as she stepped into The Rose, the only bar in Kirkwall still open this late on Satinalia. Coming to the City of Chains had not been her first choice for spending the holiday, but she had known that this year would be difficult for Ravenna, so soon after Carver had died. Ven could have come home to Denerim, of course: Bethany and Leandra had done their best to persuade her to do so, but Thea understood. Sometimes, it was easier to just put some distance between oneself and the pain. It had been simple enough for her to slip away for a few days to come visit; personally, she suspected that her aunt and uncle were slightly relieved they would not have to spend another holiday running interference between Theadosia and Rendon Howe, both of whom had dropped all pretense of civility once Nathaniel had left. Besides, tomorrow when Ravenna was sleeping off the nasty hangover she was undoubtedly going to be nursing, Thea would be able to spend some time with someone else.

Despite her best efforts, a small smile stole across her face when she thought of just _who_ she would be spending the day with. He had offered to come for the holiday itself; Anora had even invited her to spend Satinalia with them, but they both knew it was a bad idea. They were still adamant about keeping… whatever this was… quiet, and that meant exercising an abundance of caution and discretion. And so Thea found herself alone on Satinalia night, sauntering up the bar and ordering a glass of her favorite whiskey as she hopped up onto one of the barstools she could swear were set higher than they needed to be. To her slight annoyance, she realized that there was a pair of very, _very_ inebriated young men seated beside her. One, the blonde, looked vaguely familiar, and after a moment Thea recognized him as Ven’s maybe boyfriend, Anders. The other, dark haired man…

“Oh you have got to fucking kidding me…”

Thea slipped off the stool and came around to the other side of Nathaniel Howe, who looked to be several sheets to the wind and none too coherent. She would have recognized him anywhere: he had been her best friend for many years before he had vanished without a trace. He glanced at her, but she knew she probably did not look much the same as she had five years ago. Even had Nate been stone sober, he may not have recognized her. Instead, he just tilted his head curiously before it fell hard against the bar.

“ _Why_ did you think this was a good idea?” She grumbled, clambering up onto the stool beside him.

“You’re pretty,” he slurred, his eyes half shut. “Almost as pretty as Cataline.”

“Ah. Remember her, do you?” Thea’s voice was sharp with bitterness, but at the moment she didn’t care. She was fucking proud of herself for keeping her temper in check as it was. “You also remember how you left without a word? Broke her damn heart and just about killed me? Any of that ring a bell?”

“Cataline… I love her… wish I’d told her…”

Thea sighed, throwing back the rest of her whiskey in a single gulp before signaling Corff the bartender for another. “Yeah, Nate. I wish you’d told her too. She misses you like crazy, you know that, right? I do too, obviously. There’s so much I wish we could talk about; so much I just can’t tell Cat…” She gave another long, slow exhale. “If anyone would understand what I see in him, it would be you,” she murmured quietly, the faintest hint of regret creeping into her tone. “For Cat though… for her it is something different. She’s head over heels in love with you, you idiot, even now. One of these days, you are going to figure that out. I just hope it’s not too late when you do.” She sat and sipped her whiskey, listening as Nathaniel mumbled incoherently, occasionally catching Cat’s name in the inebriated litany. After she finished her second drink, she retrieved her phone out of her pocket and called a local cab service, then pulled a handful of bills out of her wallet and beckoned Corff over.

 

“This,” she slipped a bill over the counter, “Is for my tab. This is for theirs. This one,” she rolled her eyes, “Is to get them safely into the cab I just called, and this one is to buy your silence. I was never here tonight, you understand?” Corff nodded, his eyes widening slightly at Thea’s generosity. Meanwhile, she turned back to her friend, who was dozing fitfully. Before she could think better of it, she reached into her handbag and pulled out her favorite purple pen. She tested it briefly on a cocktail napkin, then she carefully took Nathaniel’s hand in hers and traced a series of numbers in the violet ink. Blowing briefly to dry the ink of her handiwork, she placed the pen back in her bag. She knew that, whatever bullshit Nathaniel still needed to work out, he would have to make the decision to come home on his own. That being said, she was not above giving him a little nudge.

With a small, sad shake of her head, Thea leaned down and pressed a firm kiss to Nathaniel’s cheek, trying to ignore the tears that were welling up behind her eyes. _Just one more secret from Cat. I’m starting a damn collection_. She slipped her gloves back on, and then disappeared into the dark, silent winter night.

 

* * *

 

 

_24 Firstfall, 9:41 Dragon_

“Teddy girl, where do you want this box of ornaments?” Nathaniel gestured to the cardboard box at his feet that Cullen had just retrieved from the attic.

Thea glanced over to where he was pointing. “Um… set it over by the mantle. Thom is setting up the tree this afternoon, but ornaments usually don’t go on until everyone gets here later tonight. Just make sure it stays closed or the girls will get into it and we’ll have no end of a mess.” Johanna and Susanna looked up from where they were lounging by the fire, tails twitching with annoying nonchalance as if to imply that they were offended by the very implication they might cause feline mischief.

As Nathaniel walked past her with the box, she pulled her pen out of her pocket and began absently scribbling a list of tasks she still needed to complete before that evening on her hand. Despite Cataline’s best efforts to break her of the habit, Thea was still notorious for writing reminders and other notes on her hand rather than putting them in her phone or on a notepad. _I still need to bake the dinner rolls, and bring the beer up from the cellar and put it in the fridge, and…_

“Thea?”

She looked up to find Nathaniel staring at her hand. “Yeah, Nate? You ok?”

He pointed to her pen. “You write with purple ink.”

Thea shrugged. “Yes, it is yet another one of my quirks, I suppose. I’ve always loved writing with purple ink, and this is my favorite pen. I’ve had it for, what, six or seven years? I keep replacing the ink barrels because I can’t seem to part with the pen itself.”

“So, you would have had that pen say, five years ago? Maybe on a Satinalia night, in a late night bar in Kirkwall where a very, very drunk young man was pining over his lost love, and woke up hungover the next day to find her phone number written on his hand in purple ink?”

She looked at him, her head tilted slightly to the side and a small smile creeping across her face. “I suppose it is possible that, five years ago, I may have been in a bar in Kirkwall on Satinalia. It is even possible that I had this pen with me that night. As I said, it is my favorite.” Thea paused, then held her arms out to her friend. Nathaniel stepped forward and wrapped her in a tight embrace.

“And yes,” she murmured against his chest, “It is also possible that I found my best friend there, shit faced drunk and missing the love of his life. And it is possible that somewhere in the depths of whatever was left of my soul, I wanted to remind him of who he was. And that he still had a home to come back to.”

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Thank you, Thea. And I’m sorry it took me so long to get the message.”

“That’s ok,” she smiled.

“You’re home now.”


End file.
